Newsletter

Man charged in airport metals theft

Jefrey Larry West

A 44-year-old man has been charged with stealing more than $6,000 in copper wire from Augusta Regional Airport, where he was employed.

Investigators were called to the airport July 6 when a 500-pound wooden spool holding 4,500 feet of insulated copper wire was reported missing, according to a Richmond County sheriff’s news release. The wire is used for lighting the airport.

Police later discovered that the wire had been sold to an area recycling center by Jefrey Larry West, who has been employed at the airport as a temporary laborer for nearly a year.

West was booked into the Richmond County jail Thursday on a felony charge of theft by taking.